Jeremiah and politics (Proper C23)

"Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

In exile the Jews have no national identity, no temple, no land and yet God says in vs. 13 that if they seek him he will let them find him. This strikes me as being the cure for Judah's callousness throughout Jeremiah.



With elections at hand, I begin to wonder if Jeremiah's words apply to us... Do we hold on to nationalism and politics as part of our spiritual lives? Are patriotism, democracy, capitalism and the like confused in our practice with Biblical truth? Do we reduce God to a republican or a democrat? To the extent that we do we are calloused and unaffected by the call of God to seek him with all of our hearts.


King Josiah's reforms were all about nationalism. He desired to return Israel to her glory days, which meant returning to the practices and rituals prescribed by the God of their fathers. It is clear from Jeremiah that those reforms never affected the hearts of the people. Instead, they continued their idolatry and prostitution with false confidence that the temple was their magic carpet ride.

Stripped of all these things-all that made them great, all that symbolized their chosen status-all of this out of the way, God again calls them to a true worship. He even calls them to pray for the well being of their captors, for the prosperity of the enemy kingdom, "because if it prospers, you too will prosper."